The Friendly Skies

Rob Brown Trio, Unknown Skies
RogueArt
 
Rob Brown - alto sax
Craig Taborn - piano
Nasheet Waits - drums   

A lineup of alto, piano and drums may conjure up memories of The Cecil Taylor Unit, but on Rob Brown's Unknown Skies the ghost of Ornette makes its presence felt. Brown isn't overly slavish to Coleman's influence however, and has produced his strongest recording of any I've heard.
 
A key to the success of Skies is Craig Taborn. His approach is so all-encompassing that you don't miss a bass. It's interesting to contrast the dense, knotty style on display here to the minimalist approach on his recent solo record Avenging Angel – quite a range. In fact, the closest Unknown Skies comes to the aforementioned Unit is in some sections featuring only Taborn and Waits.
 
Rob Brown's own playing ranges from meditative to frenetic, and although I still detect a tendency from earlier releases to wander a little in his improvisations, and although I found myself wondering a couple of times, WWGCD? (What would Gerald Cleaver do?), I wanted to play it again immediately after it was over, which is a good sign.

My Favorite Cecil

Howard Mandel's blog, Jazz Beyond Jazz, had a couple of posts about Cecil Taylor's 80th birthday, and following a comment I wrote he asked me to name my favorite Taylor recordings. That's a serious undertaking, but here's my list in chronological order:

The trio recordings with Buell Neidlinger and Dennis Charles that first appeared on The World of Cecil Taylor. These sides show his connection with post-bop jazz and the rhythm section gets him.

Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come, with Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray. Just sublime playing by all; if only the damn piano had been in tune!

Leaf Palm Hand, the duets with Tony Oxley. Taylor has worked with some great drummers, but Oxley reacts and anticipates him like no other.

2 Ts for a lovely T, with the Feel Trio of William Parker and Oxley. Fantastic interplay, plus I'm a sucker for box sets.

Nailed, with Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Oxley. Just try to catch your breath after this one.

The Tree of Life. Cecil solo.

Almeda, with an eight-piece ensemble. This size unit gives the music more space to breath than Cecil's larger ensembles.

Happy Birthday Cecil!

March 15 (or 25, depending on the source) was Cecil Taylor's 80th birthday. Of all the jazz and improvising artists out there, Cecil's catalog is the one I've most obsessively collected. 

The first record of Cecil's that I heard was Silent Tongues, the live solo recording from Montreux, when I had only recently begun to listen to jazz. In spite of my lack of knowledge about jazz in general and free jazz in particular, that record blew me away. I followed that up with Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come and I've never looked back.

I've only seen Mr. Taylor in concert once, on a double bill with the Art Ensemble of Chicago at The University of Houston around 1978 or 79. He had his sextet with Ronald Shannon Jackson, Ramsey Ameen, et al that recorded the two New World Records releases. The Art Ensemble went first, and I hate to admit that by the time Cecil's Unit came on stage, I was feeling the effects of a hurried trip down from S.M.U., where I was in my freshman year. Because of that, I didn't give his performance the attention it deserved. I would love to see him again. 

There's a complete sessionography for Cecil Taylor located here.

4/04/09 What I'm Listening To

Yes, I know I ripped this feature off of Jazz Corner's forums, so sue me! It's a good way to get a look at what I like, and hopefully you, dear reader, will add your current obsessions in the comments. Here goes:

Cecil Taylor Ensemble: Almeda

Now Orchestra and Marilyn Crispell: Pola

Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003

Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode: Unearth